Using homelessness as a barometer, Villanova University criminology professor Brianna Remster looked at the experiences of more than 10,000 men, all of them former state prison inmates, for nearly a decade after they were released.

She found 10 percent of them ended up in homeless shelters – often years after they were released and often more than once.

On average, men stayed at a homeless shelter for about two months at a time; their first stay generally didn’t occur until nearly three years after they were released from prison.

Remster, whose study was published last month in Justice Quarterly, also showed that nearly all of the men who stayed at a shelter – 93 percent – had never been homeless before they were incarcerated.

I was participating in a meeting hosted by advocates for the homeless. After an advocate defined "homeless" a state senator sitting next to me turned and said, "My god, I've been homeless most of my life and didn't know it." I said, "According to her, my son is homeless now."'

For many coming out of prison the odds are against them. Many come out with the same substance abuse problems they had when they went in, the same lack of education they had when they went in, the same attitudes they had when they went in, and the same aversion to life in society. On the bright side, there's a good chance they won't be homeless long. They'll be back in government.quarters with three hots and a cot